THE HISTORY OF ENFIELD, ILLINOIS PART 1

PUBLISHED AND COPYRIGHTED 1953 BY CARMI TIMES PUBLISHING COMPANY, 323
East Main Street, Carmi, Illinois

(Scanned in 1998 by L. B. Conley cbconly@midwest.net
, Carmi, Illinois, and used with permission of Barry Cleveland, Publisher,
of the Carmi Times, Liberty Group Publishing Company, Inc.)

THE HISTORY OF ENFIELD
PREFACE

Mrs. Chalon T. (Margaret Davis) Land is a descendant of one of the early
pioneer Enfield families and long has been interested in the history of
the area. This is not her first historical sketch for she has been called
on and has written numerous other findings as to the early families of
the county.

A member of the State Historical Society and the Wabash Chapter of the
Daughters of the American Revolution, Mrs. Land has been the author of
articles in the national D. A. R. magazine and the State Historical Journal.
She has made the study of genealogy one of her hobbies and is one of the
best informed residents of the county on tracing family trees. This Centennial
history of Enfield is not only quite thoroughly documented but has a number
of human interest anecdotes that make it personalized and interesting.
Coming as it does on the hundredth anniversary of the founding of Enfield,
the history is particularly timely for 1953.--ROY CLIPPINGER, President,
Carmi Times Publishing Company

FORWARD

This history of Enfield is based upon the recollections of many of the
older people of the town, some of whom have crossed the river to that fairer
land beyond; upon stories and traditions that have long been current in
the town; and upon extensive research in the White County History and Atlas,
Church records and courthouse records.

Many of you will recall incidents that are not related here. Won't you
please write me about them. All the events of one hundred years could not
be told in so small a volume, but some day a supplement may be written
including your reminiscences.

I can name only a few of the people to whom I am indebted for material
in this book -- Reverend and Mrs. John (Ethel Miller) Newman, Mrs. Zeke
(Adelaide Orr) Jordan, Mrs. J. W. (Ella Gowdy) Davis, Mrs. Mary B. Campbell,
Miss Allie Goudy and Mrs. B. D. (Grace Mitchell) Pickering; but I wish
to thank everyone who has contributed in any way.--MARGARET LAND

THE STORY

IN THE SPRING OF 1850, the site of Enfield was almost completely covered
by the original forest. There are perhaps a dozen of the fine old oak trees
still standing, and their mighty girth indicates that the acorns from which
they grew sprouted approximately 250 years ago.

On May 1, 1840, Thomas Crabtree received a grant from the government
of the S. E. 1/4 of the S. E. 1/4 of Section 8 at the land office in Shawneetown.
The patent was made during the term of President Zachary Taylor. This tract
of 40 acres included the original site of Enfield plus the Western Addition
and the Southern Addition. Roughly, it extended from the L & N Railroad
track to a line drawn east and west between the Methodist Church and the
Grade school yard from a line drawn north and south west of Charles W.
Land's house to a line drawn north and south west of Chalon Land's.

THE ORIGINAL VILLAGE

The original site of Enfield as in the northeast corner of the 40 acres
bought by Doctor Martin Johnson from Thomas Crabtree. The northern and
eastern boundaries of the original site coincided with the northern and
eastern boundaries of the 40 acres as described, but the site of the first
village extended south only far enough to include one row of lots south
of Main Street and west to Third Street--the street that is east of the
Southern Illinois Lumber Company.

Thomas Crabtree had married Minerva Garrison March 10, 1840, so he probably
began to make improvements on the land immediately. We do not know where
he built his log house, but it may have been on top of the hill near the
soft water spring that gushed from the hillside when Doctor Thomas Long
had a house on this site. I found an old iron stone cup, made without a
handle, just below the hill and I call it "Minerva's cup."

CALVERTS AND MORGANS

In Section 8, the earliest settler was David Calvert, who took up the
N. W. 1/4 in 1817. There was a large family of the Calverts--Joseph Calvert,
Senior and his sons David, John, Robert, Joseph, Jr., and William, and
his daughters, Nancy and Deborah Calvert, and Margaret Cheatham and Margaret's
husband, Edmond Cheatham. The will of Joseph Calvert, Senior, was made
in February, 1815, when this was still a part of Gallatin County, and his
legacies were expressed in terms of English pounds and shillings. The next
will on record is that of David Calvert's daughter, Rachel, who had married
Edmund R. Morgan before the family came to White County. Edmund R. Morgan
died in March, 1815, leaving his wife, Rachel, and a small daughter, Mary
N. Morgan, called "Polly."

The White County History states that a man named Morgan was killed and
scalped by an Indian in March, 1815, while cutting sprouts near what is
now the junction in Enfield. Tradition tells us that he was not dead when
found but was carried to the shelter of a tree in what is now Roscoe Young's
yard where he died. It seems improbable that two men named Morgan died
in March, 1815, in so sparsely settled a region, so it must have been that
Edmund R. Morgan was the man who was killed by the Indian. Several years
ago the base of an old marker was found near the flag pole, and on it was
carved, "Killed by Indian." Despite careful search, the piece that once
fitted upright in the aperture in the base has never been discovered. In
April, 1815, Rachel Morgan held a sale, and the appraisement list shows
clearly what things were found in the log cabin of one of the earliest
settlers--bed and its furnishings, $30.00; flax wheel, $2.50; table, $1.00;
2 chairs, $1.25; 2 piggins, $.50; 1 lot of books, $3.00; 1 trunk, $1.50;
6 pewter plates, $3.00; 5 tin cups and 3 tumblers, 75c; 1 Dutch oven, 75c;
1 pot, $2.00; 7 Delft plates and bowl, 75c; 1 candle stand, 12 1/2c; other
articles included a man's saddle, which sold for $4.47 1/4, a woman's saddle,
a Bar shear plow, falling ax, tar bucket, rifle and shot bag and shot gun.
Edmund R. Morgan owned a large amount of stock. A cow and calf were appraised
at $5.00, a black steer and white steer at $5.00 each; a yearling at $1.00,
eleven hogs at $10.00. Thomas Rutledge "cried the vendue" and the list
of buyers included Thomas Fields, Peter Miller, Thomas Dagley, William
and Samuel Davidson, Thomas Mayes, James Rutledge and John Cameron.

EARLY LAND GRANTS

John Upton had a mill as early as 1826 near where the B. & O. tracks
are now, and obtained an original grant of land there in 1836. He had taken
up land south of where the L. & N. tracks are now in 1819 and nearly
all of what is now Enfield east of Charles W. Land's in 1836. William Fields
and his wife, Sally, took up the S. W. 1/4 of the S. E. 1/4 of Section
8 in 1844, adjoining the land of Thomas Crabtree, and then in 1851, the
heirs of Robert Hawthorne, Jr.,--Polly, John, James and Robert Hawthorne
and Mary Ellender York took up the N 1/2 of the S. E. 1/4 of Section 8.
These grants cover the site of the original village and some of the additions.

ENFIELD IS FOUNDED

The first movement to run a railroad through White County began in 1853,
and speculation in land along the proposed right of way began. So many
towns are celebrating their centennials this year in Illinois because the
talk of a railroad fostered the laying out of towns along its course.
On May 27, 1853, Thomas and Minerva Crabtree sold their 40 acres to Dr.
Martin Johnson and his wife Comfort (Garrison) Johnson. Dr. Johnson was
a son of Arthur Johnson, Revolutionary soldier, from Brunswick County,
Virginia, who is buried in the Johnson Cemetery northeast of town.

William H. Johnson wrote a letter in 1905 to the Editor of the White
County Democrat--"I was born on the old farm adjoining Enfield on the east
March 3, 1840. . . . There are no people anywhere better than those
of the`old Seven Mile Prairie neighborhood. My father, the late Doctor
Martin Johnson, laid out Enfield, and I was one of the "Captains of Industry"
that cleared off the original site. On September 16, 1853, the first
lots were sold at auction with the Honorable Patrick Dolan, that witty
and eloquent Irishman at the bat as auctioneer. He made what his friends
all called the best speech of his life." William H. Johnson later
attended the Carmi Free School, studied law with Colonel John E. Whiting,
and was admitted to the bar in 1867.

NAMING THE VILLAGE

Legend and authentic facts concerning the early history of Enfield have
become traditional so that sometimes it is difficult to separate fact from
fancy. There are three distinct stories about the naming of Enfield, each
with its firm adherents. I can only tell them as they were told to me,
but with my own interpretation.

One story goes that when a discussion was held as to what to name the
new little village, some one suggested, "Well it's at the end of a field,
let's call it Endfield or Enfield." Some credence is lent to this but the
topography of the site hardly justifies such a suggestion. The original
site was on an elevation affording a beautiful panorama of rolling
country side in nearly all directions. In fact the streets slope so steeply
to the south that the one east of Miss Mattie Connery's was called "Tumbling
Street."

The second story introduces a Colonel Enfield who is supposed to have
surveyed the land, but John Storms was the County Surveyor from 1825 to
almost 1860, and all the plats of early Enfield were certified by him.
There is no mention of Colonel Enfield in any of the county records; his
name does not appear on the census records of 1850, nor 1860; and the family
in Carmi to whom he was supposed to be related has no knowledge of him.
So I am forced to the belief that Colonel Enfield was purely a mythical
character.

The third story was told by Miss Lillian R. Johnson, daughter of Arthur
Lewis Johnson, who was a brother of Doctor Martin Johnson and one of the
co-founders of Enfield. Miss Johnson died in Denver, Colorado, in 1951
at the age of 88, and she retained until the last her keen memory and gift
for painting vivid work pictures. "Uncle Martin wanted to name the town
Johnsonville," she said, "but since there was already a town of that name
in the state, they decided against naming it for any of the pioneer families,
but chose 'Enfield' after a town in England mentioned in McGuffey's Reader."
(This must have been from the first edition of McGuffey's Reader published
in 1844.)

SEVEN MILE PRAIRIE

No history of our town is complete without the story of the Seven Mile
Prairie Community that was the forerunner of Enfield. During the decade
following 1810, the tide of immigration flowed slowly from Kentucky and
Tennessee into Illinois Territory, the tempo growing faster with the years.
The wooden wheels of the ox carts creaked complainingly as the patient
oxen plodded slowly along the Indian trails from the Shawnee Ferry that
plied across the Ohio River. Bearded men, with rifles slung from their
shoulders, were ever alert for danger in this wilderness where they had
come to make their homes. There were women too--some of them trudging sturdily
along beside their men, others on horseback with a baby in their arms and
a toddler mounted postilion behind, holding firmly to Mommy's dress; others
enjoyed the doubtful comfort of riding in the carts. Little boys clad only
in long-tailed shirts, big boys in jeans and deer skin jackets, and girls
in linsey-woolsey dresses and bonnets were leading cows or coaxing pigs
and sheep along the trail. There were boxes holding chickens and geese
along with the other things piled high in the carts -- feather beds, quilts,
coverlids, homespun blankets and pillows; a few precious Delft plates and
bowls, pewter plates and cups, iron pots, large and small and the little
copper tea kettle; chairs bottomed with hickory; Grandma's rocker and perhaps
even a treasured four poster and bureau if the husband was indulgent. But
the spinning wheel, loom, dye pots and candle molds were musts with the
pioneer house keeper, and room had to be made for the farming implements
and the falling ax. Then there were the seeds, the young fruit trees and
cuttings from the roses left behind in the door yard in Kentucky.

In November, 1813, this was the vanguard of the army of immigrants who
came to Illinois Territory after the War of 1812. There were Thomas Rutledge
and his wife, Sally, and a large family of children, James Rutledge and
his wife, Mary Ann, and John, Jane and Ann-the same Ann Rutledge whose
name is immortal because she was loved by Abraham Lincoln. There were James
Miller and his wife, Jane, who was a sister of James Rutledge, while James
Miller was a brother of Mary Ann Rutledge. There were three small Miller
girls-Sally, Louisa Ann and Lucinda.

There were Robert Hawthorn and his wife, Mary, and their family; and
Mary's brother, Thomas Cameron and his wife, Nancy, who was a sister of
James and Peter Miller. The Camerons had a large family. And Isaac Veatch
whose wife, Mary Ellen, was Peter Miller's daughter. These people were
of Scotch-Irish and English stock. They were not the shiftless, unlettered
class, but capable, industrious, intelligent and devoutly religious. Some
of the older ones had come across the ocean to the Carolinas before the
Revolutionary War. We have a letter written in 1884 by Sally Rutledge Sanders,
sister of Ann Rutledge--"It seems that I remember Mother telling how Grandfather
Miller crossed the water from Ireland. Uncle Tommy Cameron was a baby and
he fell overboard, but some one caught him by his big toe." The families
had intermarried in South Carolina, Georgia and Kentucky.

About 35 miles north west of Shawneetown, they gained the top of a hill
and when they emerged from the gloom of the forest into the sunshine, there
spread out before them was the promised land--a level valley about seven
miles long and three miles wide with a tree bordered stream meandered through
it. Sumac blazed scarlet along the edge of the prairie, and tall gum trees
were like torches against the blue of the sky; the timber was a tapestry
of color woven by oak, maple, dog wood and evergreen. One would think that
with the land there for the taking, they would have chosen the prairie,
but the early pioneer preferred the clear woodland. The "Bar shear" plow
was not strong enough to break the prairie sod, and they feared the miasma
of prairie and swamp land would cause chills and fever.

On that first night, they made their camp near a spring on the hillside.
The fires were soon kindled and pots set to boil. The stock and poultry
were fed and made safe for the night. While the men were attending to these
duties, the women prepared a supper of venison and johnny cake. There was
no need to worry about filling the larder, for there was plenty of wild
game in the forest--Seven Mile Prairie was noted as a deer country. And
a great deal of smaller game was there. There were pigeons that flew over
in flocks so dense that they darkened the sky and when they alighted on
trees, their weight was so great that large branches were broken. The timber
was full of wild turkeys.

Soon trees were felled for building log houses, clearings were made
for planting, and a village of scattered houses grew on the edge of Seven
Mile Prairie that must have resembled the restored village of New Salem.
Rail fences were built to enclose the fields and gardens while the stock
was allowed to roam the woods. Hollyhocks and flags were planted and roses
bloomed again in the door yards.

The Reverend James McGready came up from Henderson County, Kentucky,
and in 1816 organized Sharon Church. A little log church was built about
a quarter of a mile north of where Edmond Fields now lives. Thomas Rutledge
started a subscription school in 1818 that was taught later by Enos T.
Alien and Peter Miller. When night school was held, the tuition was 25e
and "bring your own candle." This story is told of a small boy in Thomas
Rutledge's school. One day, in a brash moment, he ventured to say that
sometime men would fly across the ocean, and Thomas Rutledge thrashed him
soundly.

James Rutledge built a horse mill on the brow of the hill overlooking
Seven Mile Prairie and this is where Jesse Lockwood came to take the census
in 1820.

Reverend McGready died in 1818 and about this time the Gowdys, Orrs,
McLins, Trousdales, Andersons, Roelossons, Knights and Craigs came up from
Kentucky and from Davidson and Sumner Counties in Tennessee. They had embraced
the Cumberland Presbyterian belief and in 1819, Reverend David Wilson McLin
organized Hopewell Church, and another log church was built--this time
just west of where Paul Appel now lives.

As more settlers came up from the south, the need of a Post Office became
apparent, and in 1833, Edmond Hawthorne, whose father, John Hawthorne had
been drowned at the mill dam in Carmi in 1818, was appointed Postmaster
at Seven Mile Prairie. Leander McKnight followed him.

SETTLEMENT OF ENFIELD

The majority of the early settlers at Seven Mile Prairie were farmers,
but mills and tanneries were needed. After James Rutledge, John and Robert
Miller had a mill, somewhere on Seven Mile Prairie and John Upton had a
mill in 1826 on Section 8. In 1843, Mark A. Miller built a mill and added
improvements so that the team both pounded and bolted the flour at the
same time. The first tannery was built by James Nelson on Section 7 in
1830. Charles Parkhurst had a cotton gin on Section 25 in 1827, and Samuel
Abbott had a wool carding machine on Section 1 in 1824.

When the village of Enfield was laid out in 1853, many of the first
settlers in Seven Mile Prairie were dead, for it had been forty years since
they had crossed the Ohio into the Illinois Territory--but the nucleus
of the early population of Enfield was made up of the descendants of these
people.

AN EARLY MARRIAGE

The year that Enfield was founded saw the wedding day of John Parnell
Dartt and Talitha Catherine Harrell, parents of John P. Dartt, Enfield's
most venerable citizen. "Aunt Cassie" Dartt was the daughter of Joel Harrell,
Revolutionary soldier, and she was Illinois' last "Real Daughter." She
described her wedding dress to me so I can tell you what was an authentic
style in 1853. The material was alternate stripes of pink and white with
tiny pink roses and green leaves in the white stripe. It was made Empire
style with a high waist, long sleeves, and a long, full skirt that hung
straight to the floor. With it she wore a deep bonnet with a tail so long
it formed a cape. She made her husband's wedding suit by hand. In order
to escape the merry making of their friends, the young people eloped to
McLeansboro in an ox-cart.

INDUSTRIES

According to the White County History, "The first houses in Enfield
were built by Nance and Wallace. Each built a house the same day. They
were log cabins and the one Wallace built stands near the M. E. Church,
is weather boarded and occupied by Robert Johnson." (Written in 1883.)
"The first frame house was built in 1854 by Orr Brothers, in which they
kept the first store. Uncle Robert Orr hauled the first stock of goods
from Shawneetown in a two horse wagon. The first blacksmith shop was built
by Nance and Wallace in 1854. The first saddle and harness shop was built
by William M. Gowdy in 1855. He was born in 1833 and was educated in the
early subscription schools. When he was 19, he learned the saddle and harness
maker's trade. and in the spring of 1855 went into business for himself
with only three saddles, a few scraps of leather, some tools and 50e in
money. He sold the saddles to Mark A. Miller, William Fields and John A.
Nation. To get his leather, he had gone with a neighbor to Shawneetown
driving a team of oxen."

John Dennison built a tannery in 1860. Later it was owned by William
Henn and then by Wilson Storey.

The first grist mill and saw mill was built in 1859 by J. H. Jameson
and run by steam power. It was burned in 1871. The same year it was rebuilt
as a sawmill by Stewart Benham, who also built a grist mill on the opposite
side of the railroad. In 1878, Harry Wood had a flour mill added. The City
Mills were erected in 1865 by Pleasant A. Orr and Company. Do you remember
the night about forty years ago that the old mill burned? The blaze seemed
to start on an upper floor about 11 p. m. by spontaneous combustion. Long
after the outer walls were gone the great oaken beams stood blazing against
the sky until they too fell with a crash.

When Enfield was 30 years old, the population was 800, and the following
description of the town appeared in the White County History--"Although
but a few years have passed since Enfield was founded, it is difficult
to realize the changes that have taken place ... stately public buildings,
school houses and churches, spacious stores and business houses, busy mills
and work shops, elegant residences surrounded with evidences of refinement
and culture, tasteful cottages, the homes of thrifty and contented people,
miles of sidewalks filled with all the busy life of an energetic and prosperous
town."

There were three general stores at this time,--A. K. Tate's General
Merchandise in a frame building where Niccum's is now located, Captain
William May's Store on the Bank corner, and 8 store owned by J. E. and
R. C. Willis near the B & O station. They had taken over the store
owned by their father, F. H. Willis--the same building that now houses
the Newman store. Major Stephenson, the father of Mrs. Lawrence Taylor,
had a store on West Main Street, in a two story frame building west of
the present Marlin Store, and her mother, Mrs. Stephenson, had a millinery
shop in their home--the house recently razed south of the Southern Illinois
Lumber Company.

There were four grocery stores in 1883. There was Kuykendalls, also
handling boots and shoes, tin ware, wooden ware and Queen's ware in what
is now the Marlin Store. Erected in 1882, this was the only brick store
in Enfield at that time. Orr Brothers, J. B. Odell and John Garrett had
grocery stores. There were four blacksmith shops, two with wagon shops
connected, and one shoe shop. Mrs. Julia Pearce and Mrs. Adaline Gowdy
had millinery shops. A. G. Foster had a livery stable and sold farm machinery.
There was one restaurant owned by Tolliver Rice and his son, Will. Males
and Tyner were owners of a furniture and undertaking establishment. Doctor
John Campbell had a drug store owned lately by Doctor Samuel Latham. The
hardware store was owned by Wm. C. Watkins, and Captain Thomas Sheridan
ran the only hotel, The Sheridan House. Tom Ross was the barber and his
sign was painted on the plank fence at Orr Brothers' Mill--"Tom Shaves
for a Nick."

Enfield had three newspapers in 1883, "The Enfield Republican" devoted
to local and political views; Rev. E. T. Bowers published a paper for the
Cumberland Presbyterian Church and Elder John E. Cox put out a paper for
the General Baptist Church.

There were four churches all built in somewhat the same architectural
design, simple and unpretentious, with belfry and tall steeple and all
painted white. The Methodist Church congregation that later moved to Enfield
was organized in the yard of Samuel Kirk, about one mile northwest of Enfield,
in 1859, by A. Ransom, preacher in charge. The church in Enfield was built
in 1865. Bethel M. E. Church, east of town, was organized in the home of
Robert Hawthorne about 1850. Wesley Chapel, south of town, was organized
in 1866. The Enfield Presbyterian Church, called the "Old School" was organized
by Rev. B. C. Swan and Elder C. S. Conger in the Cumberland house of worship
in 1865. Many of the members were from Sharon Church then in its third
building near Sacramento. The Cumberland Presbyterian Church was built
in 1866 and was the fourth building to house the congregation of Hopewell
Church organized by Rev. David W. McLin in 1819. The Methodist and Christian
churches have been replaced by new churches on the same sites, and many
ministers have come and gone since Rev. S. Green and Rev. W.
H. Crow preached in the respective churches in 1883. The Old School Church
across the street from the Alden Baker residence was torn down about 25
years ago. Rev. Benjamin C. Swan was the minister in 1883 and his home
was where Will and Charlie Rooks live now. The Cumberland Presbyterian
Church on top of the hill was replaced by the First Presbyterian Church
in 1908. Many were grieved to see the old church torn down, with its steeple
so tall that Dr. McClain jokingly remarked that "it tickled the ribs of
Heaven." There is a story about Uncle John Orr who was never reconciled
to the union of the churches. My mother's cousin, D. M. Proudfit, came
to visit and said to him, "Well, Uncle John, I suppose you are still sitting
in the Amen corner and leading the choir in the church on the hill." "No,
Marrow," he replied sadly, "I have hung my harp on the willows."

The General Baptists had a congregation under Elder Cox, and since then
they have built one church and replaced it with a new one.

THE ODD FELLOWS AND G. A. R.

Two organizations that were influential when Enfield was 5O years old
and are here no more, were the Odd Fellows Lodge, of which Doctor Thomas
Long was the first Noble Grand, with their sister lodge, the Rebekahs,
and the G.A.R. Encampment. Taps has now been sounded for the last members
of the Grand Army of the Republic. In other days, the "Old Soldiers" reunion
was the important event of the year, when old "comrades in arms" met for
a renewal of old friendships. Many, many years ago one reunion ended in
stark tragedy. That was the day of the sham battle. The primitive cannon
they used had to be carefully swabbed after each shot to guard against
a lurking spark. Somehow when the gunner rammed home the charge, there
was an explosion that blew the ram rod out with such force that the hands
and arms of Comrade Sullenger of McLeansboro were terribly mangled. He
died because of his injuries. Comrade John Brockett of Brownsville had
one hand and part of an arm practically torn off and Comrade Robert Johnson
lost a thumb. Others were injured but not so seriously.